Goblin Beach Party
by bluepixy13
Summary: Sarah goes to the beach for vacation, and runs into an familiar face.


**A.N.-** For today's challenge on LFFL. It's not much, but His Majesty insisted I write it.

Goblin Beach Party

Sarah stretched on her towel, reaching out to snag a sip of her water. The sun shone enough to warm her, but there was also a nice breeze to prevent her from getting overheated. Nearby, she could hear the lapping of waves and the splashing of the few other tourists enjoying the ocean. She was glad she'd listened to Karen and gone to California for the Thanksgiving holiday. Despite feeling guilty for not visiting her family, she had promised Toby she'd make it up to him by spending the whole week of Christmas vacation with him. The perks of working for the county government were that all the holidays were time off. She lived in an apartment complex not too far from her old home, which made visiting easier, but the proximity also felt like it was holding her back sometimes.

It was the perfect time to go, too. The beach was relatively uncrowded. Still, the sudden silence was unnerving. She sat up, pushing up her sunglasses and frowning slightly. Where had everyone gone? And then she saw a man saunter along the sand. He was tall, wearing a dark blue Hawaiian shirt, tan khaki shorts, sandals, and... a cane? Honestly, the closer he got, the more it looked like a scepter. Also, why was he wearing gloves? It was a warm seventy-six degrees, he must be sweating his palms off, she thought. Then his hair caught her eyes. Blonde and wild. She swore under her breath. There was no way...the odds alone... Still, his lean frame brought up long repressed feelings. "Ugh," she mumbled to herself, "It can't be him; whoever this is just looks a lot like him."

The sounds of rustling next to her drew her attention away from the Goblin-King-Look-Alike. Someonewas going through her bags, several someones, as a matter of fact. A squawk of protest left her lips as contents of her bags were being spilled out onto the sand by goblins. So much for the look-alike theory. "Hey, stop that!" She cried at them, hastily getting up and shoving her items back.

Jareth had been pleased with his spell, ensuring that he had this area all to himself. He had just gotten settled on his blanket, when he heard a commotion coming from his right. Turning, he caught sight of a woman fighting with one of his goblins over what was obviously the woman's umbrella. His mouth turned down. His spell shouldn't have missed one. He took a second look at the woman. She was rather shapely, and her dark hair was clipped onto her head, but he couldn't tell much else about her. He wished some of his goblins hadn't tagged along, but she probably thought they were children. Mortals saw what they wanted to, avoiding the truth when possible. He sighed, and started to rise, assuming he would have to intervene. But then, she said loudly, "If you don't let go of my umbrella right now, I'll ask your King to bog your sorry hide!"

The effect was immediate, and the goblin did as he was asked, scurrying off to join the others in the water. Jareth blinked. Who was she to tell his goblins what to do?! Then the bigger question popped into his head; how did she know? Was she a witch of some kind? Curiosity flooded his veins, prompting him to go approach her. "Excuse me," he drawled.

Sarah was shaking out her things of sand, grumbling, when he spoke to her. She spun to face him, though the many things she had thought she would say in this moment died upon her lips the second he was right in front of her. He'd taken off his clothing, and only had on some rather skimpy board shorts. Realizing she was oogling him, she flushed and forced herself to meet his mismatched eyes. There was a smug humor in his expression, as he twirled his sunglasses, waiting for a response. She didn't take her own off, as she didn't want to give herself away just yet. "Yes?"

"You know who I am." It was a statement, not a question.

Internally shrugging to herself, she nodded to him. "Sure do, Goblin King."

"How? I haven't met any witches recently, and I can tell that you're not some other magical being."

She was surprised. She figured he'd have known who she was right away, sunglasses or no. Her stomach dropped at the idea that he hadn't given her a second thought since she'd run his maze. Perhaps she deserved to be forgotten by him. After all, she was the one who rejected him in the end. "You should know who I am, though if you've purposefully rid your brain of me, I suppose I don't blame you. Just try to keep your goblins away from my stuff please. It was nice to see you, Jareth."

Everything suddenly clicked in Jareth's head, and a myriad of emotions assaulted him. "Sarah."

She grinned up at him. "Oh, so you do remember."

He had steeled himself for her verbal assault, so when she took off her glasses, and he could see her green eyes sparkling at him, he was taken aback. "You...don't hate me?"

"What? No, of course not! I was a spoiled brat who wished her brother away. Not your fault you had to play the villain. Although, you may have taken it a bit far with the drugged peach bit."

He relaxed, regaining his confidence. "You felt wonderful dancing in my arms." Hope sprung in his heart as he saw redness spreading on her skin.

"I was basically a kid still, though. I didn't know what you wanted from me."

He stepped up to her, sliding his hand down her arm. She shivered under his touch, and he smirked. "And now?"

"I'm still not entirely sure." He began to pull away, so she quickly added, "I'd like to find out though."

A true smile split his face, and she found that she liked his smile, a lot. He held out his hand to her, asking, "Would you like to join me whilst I holiday?"

"I didn't know that Goblin Kings had vacations," she responded, taking his hand.

"Yes, well, usually I enjoy getting away from the castle every couple of years or so, for a few days. Typically, I enjoy the local hangout spots. However, something tells me that I'll be spending most of this time off indoors." He purred that last sentence into her ear.

Sarah's heart sped up at the implication, though she retorted, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." The next thing she knew, his lips were upon hers, and all concept of time and space fled from her mind. When he finally pulled back, she said, "Indoors is starting to sound really good." A hungry look stole into his eyes, and then the two were gone in a flash of glitter.

After a few minutes, the goblins must have realized their king was gone, for they shouted in glee and attacked the items left on the beach. The volunteer cleanup crew was dumbfounded the next morning at the amount of chicken feathers strewn everywhere.


End file.
